The first man to receive a genetically modified kidney transplant from a pig has been discharged from hospital, the BBC said.
The 62-year-old was sent home on Wednesday, two weeks after the ground-breaking surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
Organ transplants from genetically modified pigs have failed in the past.
But the success of this procedure so far has been hailed by scientists as a historic milestone in the field of transplantation.
The news was shared in a press release on Wednesday by MGH, which is Harvard Medical School's largest teaching hospital in the US city of Boston.
The press release issued by MGH said that the patient, Richard ‘Rick’ Slayman of Weymouth, Mass., is recovering well at MGH and is expected to be discharged soon.
“The real hero today is the patient, Slayman, as the success of this pioneering surgery, once deemed unimaginable, would not have been possible without his courage and willingness to embark on a journey into uncharted medical territory. As the global medical community celebrates this monumental achievement, Slayman becomes a beacon of hope for countless individuals suffering from end-stage renal disease and opens a new frontier in organ transplantation,” said Joren C. Madsen, MD, DPhil, Director of the MGH Transplant Center.